Pope Arrested! A Pius Legacy by Declan Finn - You'll be Sorry if you Miss This Trilogy!

One of my 2013 favorites was
the first book in this
trilogy. I was thrilled to get
the opportunity to read the 
final two. Here's the trailer 
for the first book and check
 out My Review too!

I am amazed that the books
could get even better, but
OMG, they did!

Truly an unbelievable,
incredible thriller trilogy
that is hard to beat!

"Mr. Ryan holds himself like you,"
Pius said. "He once told me that
he needed years of training to be
like that...so you are one of his
co-called 'super-soldiers'...
~~~
Pius XIII, born Joshua Kutjok,
cleared his throat. "I grew up in
Uganda. We had war, we had
genocide. We have terrorists, and
pirate gangs, slave traders, and
a cannibal who ran the country 
for years--one had to be able to
fight, or to hide. I was able to hide
and fight when necessary.
Fighting is not much of an option
in my chosen profession."
~~~

Undisclosed Location. 3:00 AM
Pope Pius XIII knew he was awake, and knew he was alive--if he were dead, it wouldn't ache so much. He slowly opened one eye. It didn't help much, since he was still in the dark.
He rolled onto his side, feeling the wooden bench he had been laid out on. Unpleasant, but nothing worse than a day at a monastery.
"You are awake," came the smooth, cultured voice. "Welcome, Your Holiness."
The Pope propped himself up on one arm, focusing on the man leaning on the door. He was of a build on the husky side of medium, with broad shoulders and graying hair, slowly changing from black. There was a mustache that looked like it was going to be a handlebar, and suddenly changed its mind halfway. And despite his build, he held himself casually and gracefully, and almost like someone else the Pope knew...
{The Captor} smiled, giving a low chuckle. "You have me there."
Pius smiled, sitting up. "It would appear that, in fact, sir, you have me." He waved around the room. "Where exactly am I?"
...He raised a brow. "You do not ask why?"
Pius shook his head with a small smile. "I saw the news. I am now the United Nations' number one human rights abuser, apparently. Hence I am to be put on trial...

~~~

A Pius Legacy:

A Political Thriller

"Enjoy the story. The point of these arguments is less a matter of what you believe or what I believe, but that we are all free to believe differently, or not at all And that is a freedom worth dying for" --Declan Finn

By Declan Finn

This historical writer has a very important addition to his thrillers, in my opinion... He includes ending information about what is historically accurate in his books. At least that holds true for the second in his Pius Trilogy, A Pius Legacy. Declan Finn is a lover of history and has used it in creating truly unbelievable story lines...except you tend to realize that they might be talking "alternative history/future" because there's an underlying historical thread that could easily be sewn into today's reality... Scary Good, if you know what I mean!

Take for instance all of the exciting news activities directly from Headlines coming out of the Vatican right now...What if...

He smiled, imaging his wife going through the
penjakt silat motions in the middle of their living
room, her long red hair down her back like a line
of fire, her sparkling eyes glowing with amusement
At 5'8", Moira McShane Kovach could, and had,
taken down attackers three times her size, usually
three at a time...and that was when they had first
met in high school. He didn't want to think about
how many more she could deal with now.

!!!

The day that Matthew Kovach was slated to die had started out so well. Matthew's medium blue eyes scanned the landscape through silver wire-frame glasses as he wondered how he wound up here, for God's sake. Then again, God is pretty much the point.

Matthew Kovach was known as a thriller writer. His books were actually True Crime, but his publishers refused to believe that they were, actually, true... Interesting, don't you think, that reality for Kovach was actually living... fiction... according to his publishers and readers.

Kovach had come to Rome and found that Sean was there as well--his agent was Inna Petraro who has involved with Sean Ryan, the main character in the books...

Actually they were in Rome at the same time and soon to be at the same place. Sean was busy training at the Vatican...Kovach wanted to research papers there...He was working on his next book, covering Pope Pius XII. 

And, just like his other books, Kovach was about to be in the middle of his latest thriller--the arrest of Pope Pius XIII... Now, before I leave Kovach, I should mention that his wife is an expert, and has taught him much about her skills...so don't be surprised what he gets into! In fact, be prepared for many men and women who will use various forms of martial arts in these books...

To fill in a little background, Pope Pius XII was involved during WWII. He had now been recommended for canonization. There were two opinions of his involvement.. Many had already researched his activities, some, at least two, were now dead... Kovach had probably seen the man who'd kill the last one as he, too, had been visiting the archives when it happened.

They had also already tried to kill Kovach... And that's when he started to meet the rather strange group that had already been there visiting at the Vatican... They were all warning him to keep his head down....

"Be grateful the man didn't spot you otherwise you would also no longer be here."
Matthew gave him a smile that could only be categorized as evil. "Don't be so certain of that Father. Now, I have to ask something--what abject psycho on God's green Earth would go around killing academics over a 70-year-old historical debate?"

Actually, there were a number of countries plus the ACLU who had been and were now involved in moving against the Catholic Church for their "acts against human rights" as defined by, of course, just about anybody else. The amazing thing, though, was that the UN both heard, and accepted the accusations... Then acted upon them by arresting Pope Pius XIII.

First I should highlight that the U.S. President was not as expected and had declared the U.S. would stay out of the fiasco that erupted. It seemed everybody knew that the end result would be the acquisition of all the riches of the church! And it didn't take long for every criminal considering an easy "steal" to make moves...across the world, as well as the Vatican...

First of all, I said I was in love with just what I saw
of you, and most of that was not an act. You saved
Sean Ryan even when it was in your best interest
him to die--and he was about a second away from
killing you himself. You saved everyone on the
Spanish Steps when it was near-suicide, especially
considering that you had to shoot at the bastards
you were working for, at gunpoint." He shook his
head. "You're a hero...
~~~

Interesting love relationships in the novels are beautifully done, coming forth out of the closeness of those that participated in keeping the Pope and Vatican safe. In addition to the Pope being taken by known mercenaries who were acting on behalf of several countries, Sean and Manana, one of those falling in love, were captured by the same group with the plan to murder both of them...

I think, for me, aside from the action and participants from both side, the most exciting part was the assistance from two American hackers, along with Kovach who was already living and writing his novel and sending it off to ensure it was ultimately published, but was assisting in the Pope's defense activities because, yes, the Pope was put on trial!
New York City, NY, The United Nations
The Itlian Ambassador to the United Nations straightened his silk Armani tie as he stood at the podium before the General Assembly. His frown was pronounced and his brow was deeply furrowed.
He looked around the assembly as they finally settled in. He nodded to himself slowly as he took hold of the podium. With one final glare, he began to speak. "The administration of the new Pope, Pius XIII, has irritated the People's republic of China, the People's Republic of North Korea, and the people of the Sudan, all of whom have lodged protests in this very assembly.  When they could not win through words, they decided to win through assassination and subterfuge. The Pope has declared them violators of human rights. Through old Soviet connections, they hired a team of mercenaries to reactivate this plan...
In support of this program, murder has already been committed. Dr. David Gerrity, an American research in Rome, was murdered. He was simply interested in the truth regarding the actions of Pius XII during World War II. Ashid Raqman Yousef, a member of the terrorist organization al-Taeda, also discovered it--but he was not accepted into this plan. Before he could make an announcement to al-Jazeera, we was also killed. He came to Rome Believing the Papacy hated Jews as much as he did. He was wrong, and died...
He glared at the Assembly. "And now, I charge all of you, in this Assembly, to make this right...

..."A resolution, drafted by myself and my fellow members of the Human Rights Commission, declaring the Roman Catholic Church an inhumane organization that abuses the human rights of its members, and the nations of the world in which it operates..."

~~~

Got to say that this Trilogy, with not only a historical bag of facts, merged with today's "possibilities" is just about the most imaginative thriller that I've read. It does not surprise me, unfortunately, that sometime, somewhere governments would not strike out against churches, of any religion. The world is already fighting good versus evil... But Finn has given us a specific example of what it would be like if and when...it happened... Look for my review of the final book in this Trilogy next! This superb second novel picks up from the first and then is concluded in A Pius Stand. This 3-b00k story is magnificent in scope and represents all that is wrong with this world when religion becomes the basis for man against man...

I recommend you plan reading them one right after the other for the full effect!

GABixlerReviews

Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who's Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has been trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from Fordham University's PhD program, and has been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records, and really, why would you want to know? He is currently hard at work on a vampire novel called "Honor At Stake." His political ramblings can be found at the-american-journal.com, while his rantings on writing can be found at apiusman.blogspot.com

A Pius Man by Declan Finn Fantastic Thriller Also Clarifies History! One of Top 5 Favorites for 2013!

"Goldberg nodded. "Ah, sorry, it didn't process for a moment. Then again, there's been so much fuss made in the U.S. over 'Pius XIII'...ever since he took the name, lord..." She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "The news coverage...depending on who you believe, the last pope to take the name either did nothing about the Holocaust, said nothing about the Holocaust, or was actively responsible for the Holocaust...

"...All of the historians were just as enraged that, not only had Joshua Kutjok picked the name Pius, but the Sudanese Archbishop had given two reasons for picking the name: "Like my predecessor, I, too, have a mission to save lives from a mechanism of death, which seeks to 'purify' a country through murder. Like Pope Pius XII, I will put all of my energies toward ending the murder and slavery in Sudan--North and South--as he did to save the Jews of Europe during the dark years of the Nazi infestation. To commemorate this mission, I will start the proceedings to canonize Pope Pius Xii..."

"Like some of his predecessors, Pius XIII was on a mission from God..."

~~~

A Pius Man:
 A Holy Thriller

By Declan Finn

Wow! If I hadn't already read this book, I'd think it was a story with a group of super-heroes! Don't think I've seen another book other than comics that had such great and talented characters all working for good! When I saw "a holy thriller" I thought of the old Fr.Dowling mysteries, which both I and the author faithfully enjoyed. But Finn's thriller is not just two main characters solving the crime! The Pope's desire to not only take the name Pius XIII, but to canonize Pius XII, had become a major issue and everybody's interested... Interpol, Mossad, the BND (German Foreign Intelligence), the U.S., Egypt, and many more are all involved in this novel which, for me, must be placed in my top 5 favorites for 2013...

Many years ago, once in awhile, I would read small brochures from a preacher in our family about the atrocities in the Catholic Church. We were told to never date a catholic boy, of course...  Sometime later, probably through something I read, I learned that during Hitler's reign, the Pope forbid getting involved to save the Jewish people... which was unbelievable for me...

I applaud the author for helping ensure that this disinformation is corrected.. In his foreword, his author's notes at the end and via supplemental references on his blog.. Finn takes us into the Vatican where this is all taking place. The Pope has already assumed his duties and readers are met by Giovanni Figlia, head of security...

This week, history was made as the Roman Catholic church's conclave ended with the election of the first African Pope.
Long criticized as an organization of old white men, the move was heralded by some as “inspired by the recent election of Barack Obama,” the first black President of the United States.
“We thought nothing of the kind,” one Irish Cardinal, James McFee, said. “He was simply the best qualified for the position, considering all of his policies and his history. The other possibilities were good choices, but at the end of the day, the two-thirds vote was relatively easy.”
Cardinal-Archbishop Kutjok has long been a floating Cardinal. Due to his speeches against genocide in the Sudan city of Darfur, he had been long exiled in Uganda, Sudan's next door neighbor.  (APiusMan.blogspot.com for this and other info.)

Wilhemina Goldberg, NSA, had come to provide a security audit for the Church, but when Figlia picked her up and was returning, they got stopped in traffic just as a body was landing. The location was on Figlia's car! I enjoyed that he immediately claimed the murder as being under his jurisdiction, later admitting that a good murder case broke the routine quite nicely. The case also included the death of the man who had murdered car-destroyer, apparently bombed while he was on the phone, by his boss???

But Figlia didn't realize what he was getting into...

By the time he was back, trying to get settled in, they learned that the deceased was David Gerrity, and he had just visited the Vatican's records! 

Outside, on the streets, Manana Shushurin and Scott Murphy were spys trying to gather information. Shushurin represented Germany while Murphy represented Mossad, interestingly as a group of individuals from other countries who wanted to support the efforts there...Murphy was from Ireland...Shushurin was a beautiful woman who had been trained since early childhood, while Murphy had few fighting skills. Yet they turned out to create a partnership that became a focal point in the case!

Now our main character, if there is one, is Sean Ryan. Among other things, Sean is a mercenary and has a world-wide reputation for his security activities. The Pope had hired him to come and do some basic training in arms use for all non-guard employees, so that, in case of a crisis, everybody could work to protect themselves and hopefully others. Of course, as soon as it was known that visitors to the Vatican's records were being targeted--other murders occurred, including the Vatican librarian, who had worked there for most of his life--Sean became one of the group that was investigating. Yet, when they identified one of the researchers as Ashid Yousef, whose brother had in the past made plans for killing Pope John Paul II, they realized that this might also be an assassination attempt for the new Pope!

One of the murders had taken place elsewhere, but when they learned he was on his way to the Vatican, Interpol sent a charming but deadly operative who used her body as her weapons... Whew, you'll enjoy the moves she makes! 

"I want to show you off. Meet Hashim Abasi,
Egyptian police, and Ville Goldberg, U.S.
Secret Service."
"The shorter man nodded and shook hands
with each. "Charmed. Sean Ryan...
Wilhelmina...cocked her head and closed
one eye, studying him a moment before it
occurred to her. "Oh, crap."
"Sean Aloysius Patricus Ryan chuckled.
"Yup, you've heard of me. Normally, I
would say don't believe anything you hear,
but one of my employees is ex-Secret
Service, so in your case, I would think you
can pretty well believe everything..."
"Hollywood stuntman." Goldberg's hazel
eyes almost popped out of her head. Sean
Ryan laughed. "Now, you know why they
got me--I was trained how to hurt people
without really hurting them, something the
Fathers and Sisters need to learn..."
~~~

Another official, Hashim Abasi, there on a routine visit was an Egyptian cop, who also immediately became part of the investigation team. One other individual must be mentioned--

Father Frank Williams was under suspicion by the others most of the time. For one thing, they'd seen him fight and knew he was more than a priest. He also seemed to be everywhere, just at the time something was happening...and he was seen talking to someone on the phone while making sure he could not be heard by the others. Even after the end of the book, I still was unsure exactly what his job was...LOL... but perhaps the Vatican wanted it that way...

In any event, in addition to having received threats on the life of the new pope because of his background, he was also moving ahead immediately to present his "Pius" predecessor, Pope Pius XII, for canonization. It was fairly easy to prove or assume that all of the deaths were related to this latter goal since the researchers  had followed the works of Pius during the war...But who would be so concerned about whether or not the Pope had helped Jews escape from Hitler's hatred and danger?

Then there was Yusef...the Pope was the target???

Now, in addition to a lot of historical data to help confirm what was really the activities of Pope Pius XII in relation to Hitler's position on the Jewish people, readers are going to see more action with more players than you will see in many action adventure novels or movies, including car chases through the city--ah, notice if you will, there's a jeep coming down those steps, driven by Sean, fights 

"In Sudan...since the 1980s, the Arab, Islamic north has
killed or enslavaed any black African Christians they can
get. In 1983, they instituted sharia law--theft punished by
amputation, armed crimes were capital offenses, and
adultery punishable by stoning. What did the great and
powerful United Nations do? They put Sudan onto the
Human Rights Commission!"
"Goldberg saw how the Pope seemed to change color as the
intensity of the delivery increased. "I'm sorry to say this,
sir...but even "white" slavery has been ignored, and they
sell sex slaves to Saudi Arabia and Japan. What makes
sharia any different?...
~~~

within the Vatican, including the guards and just about everybody else that worked there! And, when it gets hot and heavy, literally, even the Pope gets into the fight in defense of himself and others. The white robes of the Pope were created from the same Kevlar material... "White bulletproof vestments..." How cool is that?!

Action so fast-paced you can barely keep track, information that may allow you to rethink your own personal knowledge of the role that the Catholic Church once played to save as many Jewish people as possible...

And most of all, the merge of representatives of many organizations from different countries, to fight evil!

Historical fiction lovers...a must-read for you. And thriller lovers, if you don't mind being bogged down a little in research, you'll find these characters know more about fighting, security, and ways to ferret out the truth and ensure everybody knows it, than most characters you've met in your action favorites.

I loved this story, mainly for the characters, but for also clearing up a misconception I'd learned from my past reading... Really, check this out! Soon!

GABixlerReviews

Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who's Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has been trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from Fordham University's PhD program, and has been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records, and really, why would you want to know?

He is currently hard at work on the sequel to "A Pius Man."

Related articles

• Today's Birthday: POPE PIUS VII (1742)
• Pius XII - santo presto?
• New: "Pius XII: Under the Roman Sky"
• Fischer sparks row over Pope Pius XII
• Pope Francis may fast-track canonization cause of Pius XII, Vatican source says

Review: Just Had To Tell You About This One...

Image via Wikipedia

The Thieves of Heaven

By Richard Doetsch

Bantam Dell
ISBN: 9780440242888
449 Pages
2006 (This review has spoilers...)





Have you ever finished a book that was so enjoyable that you just had to tell somebody?!

Well I've just read The Thieves of Heaven by Richard Doetsch and so YOU are the one I'm going to tell! Cool, right?



Michael St. Pierre is a master thief--or should I say he was, since he's retired now and married to his beautiful, beloved wife, Mary. He was first sent to prison when he chose to save a woman's life rather than leave the site where he was in the midst of stealing diamonds. Of course, nobody really knew what he had done so he was sent to jail and was now out, running his own security system business.

He and his wife, Mary, are very much in love. When she first learned he was a thief, she pulled away but soon came back to him and visited him while he was in prison. But she did ask Michael for a promise: he was not to go back into his life of crime!

Helping him to keep that promise is his parole officer, now close friend, Detective Busch. His wife, Jeanne and Mary are also close friends.

But then they found that Mary had a tumor which was cancerous. Her treatment would cost $250,000. Busch offered to cash in his $35,000 retirement, but no bank would give Michael a loan and Mary had just changed jobs and her insurance had not yet started. Mary was a very devout woman and both regularly attended the Church. Michael even begged them for help; they turned him away!

Where could Michael get the money?!

And then he was visited by a well-known billionaire; he would pay all expenses for Mary, if Michael would do one job for him.

With no other option, Michael agreed. And then learned that he was to steal just two keys--from the Vatican!

I must say that the planning and undertaking of this job was exciting, thrilling and amazing! But the keys he successfully stole were not the real ones, they were there in the Vatican museum as a decoy, thinking nobody would try to take the keys from that location...

In order to complete the job and get the remaining money, Michael had to figure out where the keys really were! Michael had a mind for such strategic thinking...so it didn't take him long to figure out where to go next.

For by now, Michael knew that the keys were those that had been given by Jesus to Simon Peter some 2000 years ago...

And he did find the keys, but was almost killed until again, his mind figured out how to get away. He immediately delivered the keys to his employer and went home to Mary. It was then that he learned that the treatments for Mary were not working; the cancer was spreading.

And the man who he had escaped when he found the keys was at his home waiting...His name was...Simon...

He told Michael a story about himself and explained what he had done by stealing the keys. And who the billionnaire really was. He told Michael they were going to steal the keys back!

Or else, Mary would never be able to go to Heaven. The keys to Heaven were no longer sacred and secure. Heaven was closed!

I must say that I love fiction based upon the Bible! And Richard Doetsch with The Thieves of Heaven gave this suspense/mystery/thriller fan one of the best books I've ever read! Michael is filled with disbelief, fear, worry, but he could not take the risk that his beloved Mary would not ever be able to go home to Heaven...

What would YOU do? This is supernatural suspense at its finest! A must-read recommendation from this reviewer! Forgive my giving you more of the story than I would normally; this book was published in 2006. It is soooo cool, I just had to tell...

Book was Purchased

G. A. Bixler